WSJ: Smartphones Are Turning You People Into Awful Parents

It says non-fatal injuries for children under five rose 12 percent from 2007 to 2010 after falling for the prior decade. During the time that injuries were rising, so too were the popularity of smartphones like the iPhone and BlackBerry.

Therefore, smartphones are turning people into parents too obsessed with Angry Birds to take care of their kids.

One hiccup in this theory:

Childhood-injury specialists say there appear to be no formal studies or statistics to establish a connection between so-called device distraction and childhood injury. "What you have is an association," says Dr. Gary Smith, founder and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "Being able to prove causality is the issue ... It certainly is a question that begs to be asked."

That said ...

It is well established that using a smartphone while driving or even crossing a street increases the risk of accident. More than a dozen pediatricians, emergency-room physicians, academic researchers and police interviewed by The Wall Street Journal say that a similar factor could be at play in injuries to young children.

The Journal then goes on to detail all kinds of anecdotes about parents checking text messages and forgetting about their kids. Read it here >